Hopeton (formerly Forlorn Hope and, later, Hopetown) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Merced County Merced County ( ), is a county located in the northern San Joaquin Valley section of the Central Valley, in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 281,202. The county seat is Merced. The county is named after ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is located north-northeast of Atwater, at an elevation of 184 feet (56 m). Hopeton is located in the Merced River bottom west of Snelling. A church was present at the townsite as early as 1852, and by 1881 the town had a population of over 1000. The Hopeton School District survived until 1973. The first name of the place was

Forlorn Hope A forlorn hope is a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the vanguard in a military operation, such as a suicidal assault through the kill zone of a defended position, or the first men to climb a scaling ladder against a defende ...

, after a battle term. The Forlorn post office operated from 1854 to 1859, and from 1860 to 1861. The Hopeton post office operated from 1866 to 1894 and from 1911 to 1914.

References

Unincorporated communities in California Unincorporated communities in Merced County, California 1854 establishments in California {{MercedCountyCA-geo-stub